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2016 By The Numbers

12-29-2016, 12:16 PM

I had some fun putting together my stats for 2016 -- I essentially doubled all the hiking I had ever done up to the start of this year. I obviously love it up here, and am willing to make the 6-hour+ drive twice a month or so to stay in shape.

190 Number of monthly grid summits (out of 552)
69.6 Percentage complete of 46 summits in each season (13 Spring/46 Summer/27 Autumn/42 Winter)
46 Number of solo 46 summits (33 solo in winter)
45 Out of 46, completed for both August (still need Nippletop) and September (still need Allen)
42 Number of winter 46 summits
13 Number of High Peaks remaining to complete my 4th Round of 46
0 Number of summits in April (need to work on that!)
(Pics and stuff at the link if you're interested!)

2016 Adirondack numbers
120 vertical feet climbed, in one hike and in all 2016
6.4 miles hiked
0 high (or non-high) peaks summited
1 day hiked
6.4 miles longest, shortest and average hike (obviously)
843 days since my last high peak summit (Marshall at 1:15am on September 13, 2014, just prior to the Ledge)

bfinan0 it isn't so much the law as it is the bears. Both of my outdoor nights have been in the Dix wilderness and the Western High Peaks. Legal to camp without one, but not the best thing if you happen to run into a bear. For both you and the bear. And there's also the smaller critters which are likely to be near camping places.

Not advising doing this in any way, shape or form but I usually just keep any food in my pack, and use the pack as a pillow. I haven't been mauled yet...

I just don't see the point when I'm only backpacking one night every couple of years (and about as many unplanned overnights), normally I'd just keep hiking all night and sleep on the bus/train home anyway.

I'm often criticized for being a numbers guy, but you are light years ahead of me. What is impressive is how much you have worked on improving your hike efficiency (some call it speed but it really is more than that). Going to a gym for a few hours a week is nice, but it won't do much to make you a better hiker. Difficult for those who don't live near mountains, but "hiking is the best training for hiking".

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What would you say the best plan for someone who only hikes once a year would be? If you had one 21-hour period every August to hike any peaks, how would you make that as efficient as possible? What would you do during your 363-day off-season every year?

41,275 Vertical feet climbed
107 Number of miles hiked in the Adirondacks
63:22 Hours spent on the trail in the Adirondacks (including breaks, exlcuding nights)
2 Number of nights in the Adirondacks
6305 Highest vertical gain in one hike (feet)
4,586 Average vertical feet per Adirondack hike
23 Number of High Peaks summited
9 Number of days hiked
19 Longest hike (miles)
11.7 Average mileage per hike

This year I'll be somewhere between 110 and 120 46r peaks. That is due to doing other things and tacking on peaks to them. The really big days in peaks/day are less now. So I expect peaks per day lifetime average to be on a gradual decline.

Comment

Versus my last check in June 2016, You're 2016 2.5 per day is greater than my lifetime 2.2/day.

I love seeing things like this, thanks for sharing. I had only one single day of 6 peaks (and it was an atypical day: lower four Dixes followed by Giant/RPR) and three hikes including 5 peaks (two of which were the Dixes). Great Range Traverses tick off far more summits, and there are plenty other options for getting 5 in a day that I didn't do.

But what your numbers show is that it isn't about grabbing as much as you can all the time, but rather a consistent approach and dedication.

I'm reminded about this when I think about the current FKT for the 46. jwellford averaged, I think, something under 1.7 mph in his record-setting effort. It isn't about super fast hiking, rather Jan's feat was being able to keep a consistent pace for four days. (Which, honestly, still boggles my mind.)

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What is impressive is how much you have worked on improving your hike efficiency (some call it speed but it really is more than that).

A high compliment! What I learned from you before I understood it, it's not about being 'fast' but finding that speed which I can maintain indefinitely. It makes hiking much more enjoyable, especially the long days and the 'days after'.

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I hike rarely enough, and am out of shape enough, that that sustainable speed is probably zero for me. However, what I have found is, 12 or so hours into a hike, things do get easier for the next 24... My longest "day hikes" have been in the 33-36 hour range, but I can understand how with that mentality, and enough practice, 1.6mph for 84 hours *might* be possible...

How do your capture stats for each hike?
How do you calculate stats for the whole year?

I took the Peakbagger spreadsheet v2 (which was very good already) and added in some automation to capture more details on each hike. Then the spreadsheet calculates everything else for me automatically, I don't have to do anything.

The bigger task was the spreadsheet I built for calculating mileage & elevation gain. That one was fun. That's how I can easily figure out both the mileage and elevation gain for each hike. The numbers I calculate match pretty well with the resident numbers expert on this forum. (Except he deliberately underestimates sometimes, I'm convinced it is so that his wife doesn't worry about him.)

Wow. Now I feel like a bad hiker for not keeping track of my stats. On the other hand I use stats and figures all day long at work so I’m really not all that interested in “spoiling” my favorite hobby with anything that feels like work!

After a quick read through my hiking journal here’s some of my 2016 data:

Total number of NY High Peaks hikes: 16
Total number of NY High Peak night/evening hikes: 11
Number of NY High Peak hikes where I turned back due to time, weather, or trail conditions: 3
Number of NY 4K summits: 21
Non-NY 4k summits: 1
NY non-4k summits: 3
Separate NY parks, preserves, and wilderness areas hiked in: 9
Non-NY parks, preserves, and wilderness areas hiked in: 1
Longest hike: 21 miles
NY parks XC skied in: 2
Nights camped: 7
Beers drank on summits: 6
Cold beers drank on summits: 3
Money spent at mountaineer due to forgetting gear at home: ~$150
Days I packed snowshoes: 3
Days I actually needed to use them: 1
Days I was told by a Ranger at the HPIC not to bother packing snowshoes, packed them anyway, and needed them: 1
Garden parking attempts: 3
Successful Garden parking attempts: 3
Hikers encountered who did not know what mountain they were on: 12
Hikers encountered in the middle of the night who did not know what mountain they were on: 2
Bear encounters: 2

Round trip bus tickets from Rochester to Saranac Lake are $160. At your hiking pace you could make an awesome week trip out of it. Hike or hitch from Saranac to Corey's, and then south to anywhere you want to go. The Sewards, Upper Works... You could comfortably make it to UW in two days, leaving you with three days to finally summit your old nemesis, and two days to comfortably hike back to Saranac.

Since you don't hike in the winter you've got 5-6 months to plan the logistics. Hope to see you out there in Summer '17.

Being right behind a group that had a fatality on Giant in June, it had an effect on me and had me looking at easier hikes. I tend to try to get NY, NH, MA and CT and this year got out to AZ and CA . From the spreadsheet I keep:

Mt.

Elev.

Date

Wachuset, MA

2006

January

Pat's Peak, NH

1402

February

Pitcher Mt, NH

2153

February

Mt Pemigewasset, NH

2557

March

Mt. Prospect, NH

2072

March

Norwottuck, MA

1106

March

Bare, MA

1014

March

Mt. Prospect, NH

2072

April

Eisenhower, NH

4761

April

Pierce,NH

4312

April

Greylock, MA

3491

April

Prospect, MA

2690

April

Greylock, MA

3491

May

Giant of the Valley, NY

4627

June

Goodenow, NY

2685

June

Moxham, NY

2361

June

Sugarloaf (AZ)

4911

Aug

Doe Mountain (AZ)

5067

Aug

Little Sugarloaf (AZ)

4872

Aug

Sugarloaf (AZ)

4911

Aug

Sentinel Dome, CA

8122

Aug

Sentinel Dome, CA

8122

Aug

Bear, CT

2316

September

Bear,CT

2316

October

I was out in the woods hiking on 66 different days, many days in CT State Parks and CT State forests and a couple of other days hiking in Yosemite and the Sedona Flagstaff area that did not climb to any mountain in particular. I try and get to a few new peaks or places every year. This year I hope to get to Emmons and Cliff, two of the four I have left on the Northeast 4K list.

These numbers aren't significantly different than 2014 and 2015, with the exception that in 2016 the vast majority of this was done before October 6th. If I had gotten out more in the last three months, the numbers could have been higher.